This could change so much! @Ivan Reese, imagine the new possibilities for visual (and interactive) programming!

What does Hololens 2 enable that existing VR or MR devices don't? Serious question. Hololens 2 is a huge improvement over Hololens and to a lesser extent Magic Leap but I don't see what it enables in the visual programming space that you couldn't do on Vive or Rift or Magic Leap

Much better hand interaction support (leap motion/ kinect), eye tracking, and incremental wearability improvements but 🤷 had version 1 not getting 2

I know what the differences in the hardware are my question is what does it enable vs say a VR hmd with tracked controllers

@Scott Anderson any one improvement by itself probably doesn't enable that much, but, say, ten taken together...?

I don't disagree

Maybe not necessarily HoloLens per se; but if that kind of AR becomes more commonplace / accessible, someone could do one better than Dynamic Land. Also, the possibilities to represent things in 3D space rather than in a single flat view, and interact with more than just clicks and drags ... Programming / exploring / authoring could look more like Tony Stark designing with his hands in the air. Something like this (or more widespread use it) could be the vehicle to get us to what BV describes in "The Future of Interaction Design" and "The Humane Representation of Thought" http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign http://worrydream.com/TheHumaneRepresentationOfThoughtTalk

One thing that people fail to realize is that inevitably the space inside the AR world is subdivided into a series of flat screen-like spaces. So really the big win of AR is that you now have many monitors. maybe 10 or more, which is an improvement over the typical laptop user who has 1 tiny screen or maybe 1+ 1 larger external monitor. The additional screen space is 90% of the win. The fact is that most computer information is not interact-able spatially. Imagine for example, a spreadsheet. Each cell contains typically numbers or text, neither one of which would be manipulable by squeezing, pinching or any other hand gestures one can devise. Sifting, sorting are tasks that are amenable to AR, but frankly the hundreds of millions of Excel users will see this demo and go "meh". I predict the big win is in medical training, and repair of complex machinery. The military has got to love this, because they have super expensive stuff that they want 20 year olds to fix in a hurry with minimal training. For game programming AR might be great for level design, but realistically, one must notate the logic via text, and notating in a sloppy AR environment will be more of a hindrance than a help. AR will be essential for a few tasks, but remain niche for the vast majority of tasks.

You're not wrong (that's actually a pretty good assessment), but you're also speaking within the space of "news". This technology could enable a "new" way of using computers, which we don't know yet because it hasn't had the chance to evolve yet. Sure, lots of current things are not amenable to spacial representation; but what about whatever new thing there will be, or what about if some current things eventually can be thought of in different terms that were not readily available (or that we were not exposed to) in the old way of doing things? I'm suggesting that something like this may be enough of a change to explore things to get the "almost a new thing", and then develop that further to discover the "new thing". It could be enough of a "blue context" to even begin to have "blue thoughts" -- See the following from 18:00 to 2100 (I'll have to find another Alan Kay video reference for "new" vs "news")

In the future when AR is so good you can't tell it from reality i have no doubt that there will be AR addicts who neglect their physical body so much that they nearly die. The Matrix, here we come! In Truffat's version of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 story he imagined two way screens the size of a wall, and people were so immersed in their virtual friends they forget their real family. Very prescient. We are a ways away from having it help programming. But i am digging the 4k screens that are getting dirt cheap, because that will help programmers a lot. I had an argument the other day with someone, because my IDE requires at least HD, and frankly is just barely useable at 3200 pixels across; really needs a second monitor, and he argued that anything requiring two screens would be DOA due to all the people on laptops.It is an interesting decision. I am mandating high res for my stuff; it is simply impossible to debug a complex program on a tiny screen, not with all the visual feedback people are lusting for

So long as we can all retire in San Junipero.

This was super cool — thanks for calling my attention to it, @Dan Cook. The piano demo (assuming it was real/live and not canned) gives me tremendous optimism for the future of 3d visual languages. It'll be worth keeping the future of AR in mind when designing the 2d visual languages of today. When this tech can maintain 60fps I/O and track hands and objects accurate to the millimetre, I'll be there.